Okee dokee, round 16 is outta the oven.

This week we're taking a look at:

Mr Moon & Mrs Sun - atoxguu
Mushroom hamlet - SnakeOwl
The Flood - Prattz
Azure Station - rheisa-87
Land Of The Sun - Addictex

All around a lot of fun this week. No weird levels-which-are-in-fact-not-levels. Everything's worth taking a look at. Which reminds me, i keep the levels on playlists on my lbp.me. i keep the weekly lists separate until the month rolls over, and then bundle them up into one. If you're looking for something we've gone over, and don't feel like digging through the forum, there you go. Though...do us both a favour, and avoid lists for videos that aren't up yet. Or don't, i suppose. Were you the kid that always peeped their Christmas presents early?

As always, i want to throw a huge thank you to y'all. i've been having a great time with this, and it's only gotten more fun as the process has gotten more streamlined. And to any viewers who don't pop up in the threads, don't be a stranger, yeah?

Have a great day, everyone!

Beep boop boop, the Tuesday Takeaway.

Mr Moon & Mrs Sun - atoxguu
This one was interesting. i found myself really enjoying the sync mechanic, particularly on my second full playthrough, when i knew to keep my distance from Mrs Sun. i still think R1 was a poor choice for it, though. Later on there's a bit where you have to pull a couple of heavy blocks, and having her grab onto you makes it a bit frustrating. i did manage to save Mrs Sun this go, though i have no idea how i did it. As an aside, i knew a Mr Moon when i was a kid. He always claimed to have done drywalling for the Iron Sheikh.

Mushroom hamlet - SnakeOwl
It's back up now, and at 15,000+ plays as of this morning. Stone the crows. Going through this time and i didn't notice anything changed, it was the same very charming take on Grabbinators as it was the first time. Still hella fun, though. Tried out the different music tracks this time. They're all pretty good, i really cottonned to the third one. One very minor quibble, on the ramp, as so often with ramps, you can fall through the bottom and out of the level. It was more funny than annoying here, probably because the rest of the level was so solid.

The Flood - Prattz
i ended up liking this one more and more each time i played it. It's a good example of having a relatively simple presentation (w/r/t materials and decos) that allows more focus on gameplay, without losing a sense of place or style. The obstacles are challenging, fairly varied within their theme, and keep the player moving. It's not particularly long, but i was left feeling it hadn't worn out its welcome. There's a possibly unnecessary boss at the end, but the sequence is short, and really it's just about staying out of the way of a few attacks...so really more of an obstacle with a face.

Azure Station - rheisa-87
This is another one focussed more on gameplay. It makes solid use of the DC introduced power-ups, though the wall jump is the one that sees the most play (which is fine by me, i could do with a little less of the hero cape). Most everything here is just a touch over mid-range difficulty, but nothing feels unfair...except for one bit of jumping on 1x1 small grid blocks that is blessedly very short. The environment is well-presented, and all the little details knit together cohesively; also, the music is great.

Land Of The Sun - Addictex
This is a bit weird, as it didn't take nearly as long this morning as it did the day i was recording. i still like the presentation. The music remained simple, but cool. It was nice seeing an Egyptian theme; maybe there was a boom i missed, but i can't think of any other levels i've played that use it (the closest is generic desert). The stickler remains that boss. i did manage to beat it. Turns out i was overthinking the pattern on the lightning, it really was just left/right/left (continue ad infinitum). It's just not very fun, though. At least if you really whale on the weak points, you can get through it in just two cycles.

So, that's the that for last week. We've got all the levels recorded for this week's episode. Would've gotten everything wrapped up this morning, but one of the levels took forever to finish (even on a second go) so i ran out of time. Still, it ought to be in the can tomorrow.

As always, thanks to all of you for the support and feedback. It warms the cockles of my black, black heart.

Ahh...as an aside, before i forget. LBPtext censor, i know why we need you, but neither night nor punching are curses. And if you don't let me use the word Nazi, how can Frank talk about punching them?

Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, the LBP textcensor censores words that aren't that bad. I think Sumo needs to do some work on this.

Thank you so much for the feedback I really appreciate it. I'm gonna remember this for my next level for sure

Btw people always tell me to seperate my levels (since my first level Aquatic Temple), but I never really liked the idea of having 3-4 seperated levels for just one level theme. I always liked games that showed a different side to the same levels/worlds (rainy weather, sunset, indoor, outdoor...) and that's why I keep having multiple sections in one level. Maybe one day I'll seperate the levels if I feel I'm not able to put it all in 3 level sections

i can see what you're saying, and don't necessarily disagree with it. i think it was just getting through a fairly beefy and cool level, and then getting snagged on the boss. It got me thinking though, how that could've been built up into a 3 or 4 level adventure. Like, a hub at that village in the beginning, one level to lead up to the pyramid, one in the pyramid, and then the boss as it's own level. i can see, and appreciate, why you might not have wanted to do it that way, though.
i do want to say that i enjoyed the level an awful lot; probably wouldn't have had such a strong reaction otherwise. Also, as an aside, i quite enjoyed the music. You done a good job with Land of the Sun!

Thanks both of you for the feedback! Glad to hear the episodes are being enjoyed.